This month’s BSFIC Challenge over on Kavey Eats is to produce a savoury ice cream – this is my attempt to find something boozily appropriate!

The trouble with most alcohol is that it’s on the sweet side, but happily as I was staring at my somewhat overstuffed booze cupboard I caught sight of some tequila and, with my mind full of salt, limes and tequila shots, shouted “Tequila Slammer Ice Cream!”

Of course, Wikipedia then told me that a Tequila Slammer was nothing of the sort, and that what I was thinking of was actually called a Tequila Cruda, but it was a good idea nonetheless.

You will need:

3 egg yolks

60 grams caster sugar

300ml whole milk

50ml double cream

2 limes

50ml tequila

1/2 tablespoon sea salt

The first step is to make a fairly normal custard base – whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar, boil the milk and then pour onto the yolks, whisking as you go. Return the mix to the pan, and cook until it starts to thicken.

As soon as it starts thickening, cool it off in a sink of cold water. Keep whisking to stop any skin from forming, and once it’s cooled off (so that the heat doesn’t drive off the alcohol) add the double cream and the tequila along with the juice and the zest from the limes.

The mix then goes into the ice cream maker. The tequila and juice will have thinned the custard down somewhat, but it will (eventually) start to set. Once it’s fairly firm (it probably won’t get solid) transfer it to a freezer box, and shove it in the freezer to finish off.

This is where I went slightly wrong; I added the salt to the ice cream maker as it started to firm up, hoping that the salt crystals would not all dissolve and leave a nice crunch – however, it was still too liquid and the salt all melted into the ice cream.

So do as I say and not as I did – sprinkle the salt crystals over the ice cream as you serve, so you get those crunchy, salty explosions in your mouth to go with the creamy lime and tequila ice cream!

Share this:

5 Comments

[…] husband Pete, who writes drinks blog Pete Drinks, offered up a real savoury ice cream, with his Tequila Ice Cream. Based on the traditional combination of tequila, lime and salt, he made a savoury with tequila and […]

[…] full of ideas… from a variation on my stout beer and roasted salty peanuts ice cream to Pete’s savoury tequila concoction to a tiramisu-inspired indulgence to something based on a raid of the overflowing drinks cupboard […]